That Healing Thing
by FunkyFiction
Summary: 1'944 days have passed since his death, since George last saw the smiling face if his brother. 5 years, three months and 26 days. Two broken hearts heal better together than alone. AliciaS/GeorgeW
1. Chapter 1

Disclamier; nothing belongs to me.

Title; That Healing Thing

Chapter One

You can't really say that it gets easier with time. They say that time will heal your wounds. But is that really true? Can time really heal your wounds? Don't think so. Time doesn't heal, it just makes it easier to live with your wound, and it doesn't make it any less deep.

The wound that George felt when Fred died is still there. It still feels like he has a dagger stabbed into his heart, and he can't take it out. It's still there; he has to go through every day with it. When he laughs it hurts even more. When he cries it hurts less, but he can't spend the rest of his life crying, can he?

1'944 days have passed since his death, since George last saw the smiling face if his brother. 5 years, three months and 26 days. George is now at the age of 25, and he still run the joke shop that he and Fred once started.

It seemed almost impossible to believe that it have been such a long time. George walked past a window over the main street; the most of those people out there was out making a last minute shopping before the new term at Hogwarts. His shop on the other hand was pretty much deserted; all the naughty kids get sent to bed early, like his mother used to say.

Gorge continued past the window and out into the back room, more known as the storage room. Their office was back there; still with two desks, it had been Fred's idea to have the desks with the fronts toward each other. The first one, the left one, had always belonged to George, the second one, the right one, had changed owner several times over the years.

First had the desk belonged to Fred, obviously, but when Fred died had the desk gone into the care of Ron for the next three and half year, who George had generously given a job as he was going through the Auror training program. Then had been empty for six months, then George had offered a companion ship to Verity, who had worked in the shop ever since they started, or could afford to have an employee more exactly. Verity had over the years become more as a friend to George than an employee, and there was no chance in hell that the two of them would ever become a couple, besides, Verity had been married since the year after Fred had died.

George walked out of the office and once he saw that the shop was completely empty. He looked tiredly up at the watch on the wall, ten to six. Ten minutes left until the shop closed. He considered in his head the thought of closing the shop early, sighing to himself at the thought that he might lose customers because of it, he sat down on the floor behind the counter, under there he took out the Firewhisky bottle he kept in store there, it was lucky him that Verity hadn't found it, she wouldn't have done anything, but he didn't like the thought of letting her know that he had been drinking on the work place one time or another.

George had a very high tolerance for alcohol, so half a glass wouldn't make him get all drunken, it might have before Fred died, but certainly not now.

The doorbell above the door rang and George sighed. Did they have to disturb him? He closed the bottle and put it back, if he stood up and offered them his help maybe he could pester them to leave so that he could close the shop earlier. He sighed again and took a piece of chocolate into his mouth, didn't want them to smell the alcohol on his breath.

When he stood up and surveyed the shop, he noticed that in front of the tank filled with pygmy puffs was a little five year old girl. She wasn't alone though, her parents were probably the other two people in the shop who George couldn't identify. There was something about this little girl that spoke to him, he put the rest of the chocolate in his pocket and walked up to the girl, where he kneeled down so that he could speak to her.

"You fancy the pygmy puffs I see?" He said to her.

"Oh." She said and turned her face toward him. "Yes sir I do." She answered in a polite voice. "They are in so many pretty colours."

"In the beginning did we only manage to get them into the colours of pink and purple." George said to her with a smile.

"Those are also pretty colours, sir." The little girl answered. George couldn't help but to think that he knew this girl, something familiar about her.

"Don't call me sir, I don't like when people call me sir." George said. "Call me George. What's your name?"

"Jamie." She answered.

This little girl was so adorable, with her brown hair up a braid, her blue dress underneath her jacket, her gray-white dirty shoes. And the eyes, when George saw those blue eyes with a hint of green in them, he couldn't help but wonder where he had seen them before.

"Chocolate?" He asked her and offered her a piece.

"Sorry, but mum told me not to accept anything from strangers." She responded, but George could tell from her voice that she really wanted that piece of chocolate.

"Jamie honey." A female voice said behind them. "This is George, he's not a stranger."

When the voice spoke, George knew exactly where he had seen those blue-green eyes before, they belonged to the girl he had been in love with in school, his team mate, his friend, the girl he could never have because her heart had always belonged to somebody else, the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He stood up and turned around toward her.

"Alicia." He said breathlessly with a voice that neither was happy nor sad at the sight at her. Oh Merlin she was still beautiful, now only older, he hadn't seen her since the grand opening of this store. Her skin was smooth and in a perfect tanned tone, her forms were now more filled out, and she probably still wore the reading glasses she had gotten in fifth year, but he couldn't tell now.

"Hello George." She said in a voice happier than his.

"You know my mummy?" Jamie said, from where she stood at the side of him. George looked down bewildered at the little girl. She was Alicia's daughter; George had assumed earlier that they were related, siblings as closest but not mother daughter. He looked back at Alicia again.

"She's your daughter?" He asked her for conformation.

"Yes." Alicia simply answered.

"Who's the father?"

"Remember Henry?"

Henry, the Ravenclawer in Oliver's year who had stolen Alicia's heart away from George. He had accompanied Oliver to the Battle of Hogwarts, but he was unfortunately killed. "Yes I remember him, so the two of you had a child." The latter was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." She answered him. "I was thinking about telling all of you, but... The battle happened. And I just couldn't stay here; there was too much loss; Henry, Katie, my brother and... Fred." She told him sadly. "How can you ever manage to go forward without all of your loved ones?" She asked him, but on her tone it didn't seem like she was looking for an answer.

"Chocolate." He answered her, and held up the chocolate he had in his hand. "And alcohol, and work, and some special female friends and then you just try to concentrate on everybody else's happiness." He answered her and sighed, he didn't like to see her sad, it had always pained him.

First she just looked at him, and then she burst into laughter. And soon he laughed too; both of them seemed to have forgotten the little girl who looked confused and wondered why they were laughing.

"How have you been?" She asked after she had calmed down.

"I manage." He simply answered. "You?"

"I manage as well." She looked at him, still smiling. "Starting a new business." She said to him excited.

"That's nice. What kind of business?" He answered, feeling happy for her.

"Me and Carlos, we are staring an inn in Hogsmeade. The Dragon Sphere" She said. "Carlos is the guy who's looking around in the shop."

"Wonderful idea since three broomsticks is closing down." George answered, he looked over at the other person in the shop, who was busy looking through the store, or maybe he was just letting the two old friends catch up without interruption.

"That's actually why we chose just Hogsmeade." She told him. "The place we bought is currently under renovation. Opening in a month if everything goes as planned."

"Where are you going to live? Flooing every day?"

"No, we live in house there, not so far away." Alicia told him.

"Hogsmeade is a growing village." George stated as he looked over at Carlos who had appeared behind Alicia.

"Are you tired, honey?" Alicia said.

George, who hadn't seen that Alicia had spoken to Jamie, turned his attention back to her. "Me?" He asked confused.

"I'm talking to Jamie." Alicia answered him with a smile. "C'mon honey, we'd better go home." Jamie walked up to her mum."It's getting late." Alicia spoke to George.

George looked up at the clock on the wall, ten past six. "We're closed." He said out loud in a disappointing voice, he wanted them to stay longer.

"Yes, and Jamie's getting tired." Alicia said. "We'd better leave; it was really nice meeting you again." She said and hugged him, and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Let's make sure to bump into each other again some time." She said to him with a smile.

"Of course, I'll be here." George said. "From 10 AM to 6 PM every day, except from weekends when I open at noon." He said automatically and held up the door to them.

Alicia gave out a little laugh at his business like voice.

"Bye George." Jamie waived at him and took her mum's hand.

"It's a really great shop you've got." Carlos finally spoke to him and walked out of the shop after Alicia and Jamie.

"Thanks." George said low to himself as he closed the door and turned the open sign.

Once the door was closed and he lost sight of Alicia through the window, he turned quickly around and walked into the back office. Once he was in there, he sat down on Verity's chair and looked through the papers on her desk, but unable to find what he was looking for. He stood up again and walked over to the fireplace upstairs in his flat.

"Can I speak to Verity?" George said to the person who answered his call.

"George, what have happened?" Verity answered concerned that he had called her at this hour. "You didn't burn up the shop, did you?" she joked.

"Uh, no." He answered smiling, a little taken back by her joke. "I'm just wondering where you put the Zonko file."

"It's in my top drawer." She answered. "Right under the quill boxes, that is why you might not have found it. Why do you wonder?"

"I was just thinking, why not take the chance, and see how it'll work out." George answered, having Alicia in his mind.

"Alright, let's talk about it more tomorrow." Verity answered.

"Alright, have a lovely evening." He responded.

"You too." Verity answered and left.

If they bought Zonko's and extracted their line of products to Hogsmeade, maybe he and Alicia will 'bump into each other' more often, it made George happy for the rest of the night, but then he remembered Carlos, and his good mood disappeared, he had forgotten about him completely.

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Author's note; You like or no like? it will depend on the feedback if this story will get high priority. So leave a review if you like it


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer; Nothing in this story belongs to me, blah blah blah...

That Healing thing

Chapter Two

The next time George met Alicia was exactly one week later, Verity was out in the office dealing with paper work on the Zonko deal. George was out in the shop, which was completely deserted again, he looked tiredly up at the clock on the wall, ten to six. He sat down on the chair and rested his head on his hands.

The doorbell rang and George looked up, and there she stood, smiling at him.

"Alicia." He greeted her and walked around the counter.

But Alicia didn't say anything; she walked up to him and kissed him. "I just want to feel again." She murmured to him.

Without answering George returned the kiss, placing one of his hands on her back and the other one cradling her head, holding her close.

Her hands were up in his hair. "George." She said calmly.

"George." She said again, now more annoyed, but he noticed that there was something wrong with her voice.

"George!" She practically yelled out and shook him.

"What?" George answered as he woke up. He looked around, no Alicia. It had all been a dream.

"You were sleeping!" Verity said annoyed to him.

"I was sleepy." He confessed.

Not saying anything more she put up a few papers in front of him. "I need you to sign here."

George signed the paper, and then asked. "What is it for?"

"The Zonko Deal." She answered matter-of-factly. "What do you think it was; a subscription for magazines with half naked witches?"

George knew that she was joking, but with a complete serious face he looked up to her and asked. "You would do that for me?"

She didn't say anything; she just sighed as in giving-up and walked back into the back office. George looked up at the clock at the wall, five to six.

Looking around in the shop, which was still deserted, and then he continued to stare at the clock, which didn't move at all, but then the bell on the boor ringed. And just like in his dream she stood there, looking at him.

Suddenly her face turned into a smile and she said. "We should do something together."

"What?" George wasn't sure he understood what she meant.

"You, me, Angelina and Oliver. We should do something together." Alicia said smiling.

"Oh." George said, he thought that she meant the two of them, only the two of them. "Right, Angelina and Oliver..." Then he smiled back. "That would be fun."

"Great, I met Angelina earlier today and it actually was her idea." She continued.

"It will be fun to meet the gang again..." George said but then remembered. "Or what's left of it anyway." He remembered that they would never really be the 'gang' without Fred and Katie there.

"I haven't met Angelina in a great while." Alicia said. "Before today to say."

"Yeah, I haven't met either Angelina or Oliver for some time now." George said.

Alicia walked forward to the desk. "I don't think there has been a whole week during these last five years that I haven't met Oliver at least once."

"Oh, really?" George wondered.

"Oliver doesn't say it, but he's actually feeling guilty for what happened to Henry." She answered him.

"Why is he that? It's not like it was Oliver who killed him."

"Henry wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for Oliver, he followed him." Alicia looked down in the desk with a sad expression. "Oliver is sort of a substitute father for Jamie, she really likes him." She half smiled.

"Isn't Carlos supposed to be that, you know, with all him and you?" He asked in a mulled tone, not meeting her eyes when she looked up at him with a shocked expression.

"What? Are saying that you think that, me and..." She seemed completely lost for words, her mouth remained half open, but suddenly she shut it and said with a stone hard tone. "Maybe I should ask you if you are shagging Verity."

"No!" George exclaimed but after a while he understood. "Point taken." He added.

"Besides, didn't you see the way he was dressed?" She asked him, now was her voice softer and sweeter again.

"Um, no." He shook his head, not understanding what she meant and why would he check out another guys clothing?

"Let me put it like this. The only thing Carlos and I have in common except from the inn, is that we both only slept with men." She said to him. "And care too much about fashion."

"Okay, Point taken." George said again. "You have a date picked out yet, for our gathering?"

"No, Angelina will probably be the one who's calling the date; she's the one with the busiest schedule." She said.

"Oh yeah, life is quite busy when you are a Quidditch player." George nodded. "How's Oliver's back?" He asked remembering that he read in a Quidditch Magazine that Oliver Wood wouldn't be playing this season since he had hurt his back, which was a great loss for the Puddlemere United Team and their fans.

"He's whiny about it and says that it hurts more that it probably does, but he's alright." She responded. "Jamie is having real fun taking care of him." She added with a smile.

"So, what is your suggestion that we do?"

"Actually, a thought of mine is that I make you my first food guests at the inn." Alicia said, suddenly very excited. "I haven't tried the kitchen yet and it's just been standing there for three days now and I don't even know if it works properly..."

"So you are a cook?" George interrupted her; he knew that if she got really excited and started to talk she'd even out run Oliver Wood on his pre-game pep-talks. Talking forever and ever.

"Yes, I'm the one who'll manage the food, and Carlos will manage the guests." She told him. "So you don't have any plans for the next two weeks we need to take into consideration?"

"No." He shook his head. "The only thing I have booked in is a family dinner the day after tomorrow, we have that every Friday."

It was true that his mum was trying to have family dinners at a weekly basis. But everyone in the family had different schedules and most of the time it was only a few people who showed up. But George had been there every week so far, it's not like he had anything better to do. About a year ago, his Mum, Ginny and Hermione had got into a try to find a woman for George; at every week would someone bring over a guest and have her interact with George. But it didn't work out, so after ten different tries (most of them being friends of Hermione), they gave up, signed George off as a hopeless case. Which he was perfectly happy with.

"Okay then, I'll send a message to Angelina and she'll probably be the one to contact you." Alicia said. "I really need to get home now."

"Of course, I completely understand, you have Jamie to take care of." George nodded, though a little disappointed that she had to go. "Say hi to Jamie and Oliver for me."

"Yeah I will." She nodded. "Stay out of trouble."

"Oh you know me. Can't really promise that." He smirked to her as she left the shop with a smile on her face.

He slowly left the desk to lock the door and turn the open sign after her. He had a smile on his face when he turned around and found Verity standing in the doorway to the back room.

"What?" He asked her, he could see on her face that she wanted to say something to him.

"It's just..." she hesitated for a second. "After over five years are you still completely, head over heels in love with her. It's pretty amazing actually." She offered him a small smile and then turned around and disappeared from his sight.

George couldn't deny it, it was pretty amazing actually, that seeing one special person again could make him feel so happy and for the first time... it felt completely right.

XXX

"No, mum, nothing is wrong with me." George insisted to his mother Friday afternoon the same week. He currently were at the Burrow, he sat on the floor in the living room, playing with the one year old Dominique, Bill and Fleur's second oldest who had spent the day with her grandmother.

"George." Molly Weasley sighed and sat down on the sofa in front of him. "Please tell me why the sudden change to such a happy mood?"

"Mum, is it so bad for me to be happy?" He answered her and was suddenly hit in the chest by a green toy duck, which Dominique had thrown at him while giggling like crazy.

"Did you meet somebody?" she continued her search for a reason of his sudden mood change.

George hesitated before he answered her; he didn't want her to get her hopes up. "Maybe I did." He answered and avoided her look by playing with the toy duck in front of the one year old, which caused her to giggle happily.

"Oh, what's her name?" Molly asked excited, she was so happy for his sake. "Why don't you bring her to dinner tonight?"

In George's head an evil plan started to form, he stared down onto the floor as he answered her.

"Who said it was a she?" he asked, still not lifting his head, he didn't know if he could keep himself from laughing.

"Oh." Molly's face fell. "Oh my." She had not seen this coming. "Oh my." She repeated.

George finally lifted his face and looked at her, and unfortunately he couldn't keep himself from laughing. "I'm just joking mum; of course it's a she."

But Molly on the other hand did not seem to think that his joke was funny. But she smiled at the fact that he had made a joke, it didn't happen often these days.

"You are so funny George." She said sarcastic. "So, who is this mysterious woman? Anyone I might know?"

"You sure do know her." George said. "The only thing is that she have five year old daughter." He slowly fed her information.

"So she's married?" Molly asked chocked, not quite believing that her son would have an affair with a married woman.

"No."

"So she's an unwed mother?" Molly wondered who this woman might be, and by the knowledge she had so far gotten about this woman, she wasn't so entirely sure if this was the kind of woman she want for her son.

"No, the father died... at Hogwarts." George said. He put down the green duck on the blanket Dominique sat on.

"Oh." Molly now knew who this woman might be. "It's Alicia Spinnet right; the woman you know from school?"

George looked at his mother with confusion, how could she know? Did see it in him as well as Verity could? Or maybe it was just that obvious?

"How do you know?" He asked.

"There was an article in Witch Weekly two days ago." Molly answered. "It's about the inn they are staring in Hogsmeade, Alicia and her Homosexual partner."

"It stood that in the article?" George asked. "That Carlos is a homosexual?"

"No." Molly shook her head. "But it was kinda obvious from the clothes he was wearing, honey." She smiled, and walked out into the kitchen to get the article for him.

Like his mother had said didn't it say in the article that Carlos was homosexual, but as much as George looked at the clothing that he was wearing in the pictures, he failed to see how it would indicate that he was homosexual?

The pictures were amazing, the place wasn't quite done renovating, but so far it looked good.

When George came home later that evening an Owl was waiting for him in his sitting room. It was from Alicia, it contained a very nice greeting and a small conversation piece before giving him the date and time which had been set for the get-together and the address for the inn.

Before he wrote up the date in the calendar down in his office and plastered the letter on the cupboard in the kitchen. He wrote back to her, telling her that he had no plans for that date and also including a bit of a polite conversation, but he cut that part out later when he had re-read it and it sounded much to plastic for him.

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Please be so kind to leave a review, even if it's shit... which is something I'm beginning to believe it is since there is a lack of response of any kind.


	3. Chapter 3

Title; That Healing Thing

Disclaimer; Nothing in this story belongs to me...

Chapter Three

It was fun to meet Angelina and Oliver again, George couldn't quite remember the last time that he had seen Angelina, but last time he had met Oliver was about three years ago when Percy and Audrey got married. At that day was the first time that George noticed that Percy and Oliver actually were the closest thing to a best friend both had.

George showed up a little bit over half an hour before he was supposed to, figured that maybe he had Alicia would get some alone time together, but that wasn't the case since Oliver pretty much lived there and Angelina had arrived a few hours earlier to help Alicia with the food, George was the last one to arrive.

He had brought a bottle of wine from Rumania his brother Charlie had given him last Christmas; George weren't much of a wine drinker so the bottle had just been sitting there in his kitchen for months. Alicia smiled at the gift and gave him a hug as thanks. "It's very thoughtful of you." She said.

Jamie was happy to see him again, she was even happier to see him when he gave her a chocolate bar of the same brand as he had offered her when they first met. But Alicia quickly took care of it, "Not before dinner." She said.

The eating area was set up in the dining hall of the inn; it was one of the few areas that didn't have any signs that construction was still going on. But the place looked pretty much done; it had a very homey and warm feeling.

"How's Percy?" Oliver asked after the dinner when the two women were in the kitchen to get the dessert ready.

"Oh, he's..." to be honest hadn't he met Percy in a long while, but decided not to divulge that he was trying to avoid his brother as much as he possible could without arising suspicion. "He's good, last time I heard from him."

"That's nice to hear, I figure that he's very busy these days." Oliver answered, shifting in his seat so that he'd sit more comfortably. "Unfortunately I haven't met him since the girls were born."

"Yeah." George responded, it had been about ten months since Percy and his wife became parents to twin girls. That was the reason that George was avoiding him, he couldn't help but to feel a bit... uncomfortable around him.

Although it had been worse for Percy, the day that he was told that it was twins he had been terrified of how George would take the news. That he was going to have twins when he thought that George blamed him for that fact that he didn't have a twin anymore. But when George heard the news he had smiled and pointed out the irony that Percy, who had suffered the most by the hands of Fred and George, was going to have to deal with twins for the rest of his life.

Later that night when he came home he cried, more than he had cried in years, he found it unfair that out of all his brothers Percy would be the one who'd have twins. That there would be another pair of Weasley twins and soon Fred and George would be forgotten and it would only be George. Now, over a year later, he realized that this was how his mother must have felt when Fred and George were born. He also learned how to live with it... almost.

"She's horrible..." Angelina muttered when she came out of the kitchen to them with dessert plates.

"What did she do now?" Oliver asked with a smile on his face. "Don't feel bad that she kicked you out of the kitchen, it happens to everyone."

"Yeah, Oliver also said that my mum is a bossy b..." Jamie started to say but Oliver interrupted her.

"Okay Jamie." He said to her. "I think that we understood what you meant. Don't you also remember what I said about ever repeating that word?"

"What word?" Jamie answered confused, looking up at Oliver with big quizzical eyes.

"Never mind." He muttered in response.

"I'm gonna go into the kitchen and see if I have any better luck." George said and stood up.

"Good luck." Angelina said. "You'll need it."

George smiled for himself and walked over toward the kitchen, when he entered Alicia had her back turned against him.

"I told you Angie, I don't need help." She said when she heard the swing door shut. "Go back out."

"Okey, then I'll walk right out there." George responded and turned around, he hadn't taken ill to what she had said, but instead found it amusing.

"George." Alicia turned around, stopping him from leaving. "You don't need to go. You can stay."

He nodded and walked up to her.

"Okey, just though that I'd see if you need any help." He said to her, standing quite close to her beside the working bench she stood by.

"No, I don't need any help." She muttered without looking up at him, she hadn't not noticed how close to her he stood, but she went back to working on the cake for dessert, all that was needed was the frosting for it, which was practically done, and since Alicia was a bit of the master on making things harder than it should be normally, she applied the frosting on by hand.

One she was done with the frosting she put down the sprits and turned her body more toward him, closer to him, after a few seconds she looked up at him and saw the want in his eyes, the reason that he was right there in front of her. He was much taller than her so she needed to stand up on her toes to even be near his face.

He now stood closer to her, their bodies touched, but their hands remained away from each other. Both of them were nervous as their faces slowly came closer, so much excitement and anticipation laid in the air between them. But at the moment their lips were about to meet the kitchen door opened.

"Mummy." Jamie had appeared. "When we have cake?" She didn't seem to understand what she had just walked in on.

Alicia and George had taken distance from each other when they heard Jamie. Alicia smiled at her daughter while George looked away. "Right now, I'm just done."

Jamie nodded and walked back out of the kitchen.

"So um..." George started, not so sure on what to say.

"Um... What?" Alicia asked but she didn't look up at him; she was cleaning up on the working bench. "Look," She turned around toward him, looking him in the eyes. "I think it's for the best that this... us... didn't happen."

George wasn't surprised to hear this, deep down he knew that if him and Alicia happened, it would be too good to be true and good things didn't happen to him anymore.

The rest of the evening continued less pleasant than before. All he could think about was that Alicia didn't respond to his feelings, but he tried his hardest to make sure that nobody would notice his change of mood. What bothered him the most was that Alicia seemed fine, perhaps now even happier than before. Maybe it was for the best that it didn't happen.

He didn't want to seem impolite by being the first one to leave, but after a while he just didn't care at all, he couldn't stand being close to her when he knew that she didn't want to be close to him.

He excused himself by saying that it was late and he needed to get up early tomorrow for work. And of course they understood and George was free to leave. He thinks that at least Angelina had noticed that something had happened between George and Alicia, or that almost something had happened, but she didn't say anything about it.

Summer still lay in the air over Diagonally when he appeared; instead of going home he headed to a bar not so far away from where he lived. He knew who he'd find there, he'd find one of the only few people who'd be more than willing to help him forget the evening, at least for a while.

Her name was Cassie, he didn't know her last name, maybe she had told him at one point but he couldn't remember now. Their relationship was nothing more than sexual. Maybe she was still in this because she wanted something more than this, but he didn't really care.

It was easy to get her to his place; it had taken nothing more than him asking what she's doing tonight. This thing between the two of them hadn't gone on for longer than a few months, they hadn't known each other that well before this 'thing' started, and he preferred if they didn't know each other. It made things easier if there were no emotions involved.

The girl before Cassie was named Lisa, he really hadn't know anything at all about her because one day out of the blue she had ended their 'thing' by telling him that she was getting married.

They hadn't wasted anytime when they came over to his place; neither did they waste any time going to the bedroom. They hadn't spent any longer than a few minutes at his place when George faced the unpleasant need to get away from the half-naked woman in front of him to open the door because some idiot had decided to ruin his night further by coming and bother him.

Frustrated he tore himself away from the half-naked woman sitting on his table to open the door, he didn't bother to put a shirt on which was something he would come to regret.

"What?" He asked in a rude tone when he opened the door.

It was Alicia.

"Hi." He changed his tone and started to wish that he had put his shirt on.

"Hi, I know it's late." She said, trying hard not to look at him. it had been so long since she had been close to anyone that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to say what she needed to say if she kept looking at anything but his face. "I just didn't want to leave things the way they were with you, it's not like I wouldn't want to, I just..." she stopped talking once her view into the flat and realized that he wasn't alone. "I should have known." She muttered low to herself.

"Alicia, it's not what you think." George answered her; he couldn't believe that he had screwed this up again.

"George. You don't need to explain. I shouldn't have come here, it was a mistake." Alicia said and turned around to leave.

"Alicia!" He called out to her and closed the door behind him; he didn't care if he had to run out on the street after her in only his pants, he needed to talk to her.

Luckily for his she stopped when he called out to her, but she didn't turn around.

He just stood there, not sure of what to say. There was so much that he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't find the right words.

"I should have known." She said when she turned around. "You did say 'alcohol and special female friends' and you probably don't want to be with 'me', you want to be with the girl you knew in school and I'll never be her again."

George saw the hurt look on her face, he didn't know if she said these things to convince herself or him that things were this way and wouldn't change. What he knew was that she paused to give him the chance to say something, but when he still hadn't said a word she continued.

"Besides, I can't just give in to something because it's what I want; I have to think about Jamie and what's good for her and the person you've become is not the kind I want my daughter to be around."

She still stood there when she finished talking, but as he still hadn't said anything she gave him one last look before she left.

He didn't chase after her and made her promises that he'd change and become a better man if she just stayed with him, he didn't do this because he knew that those promises would be hollow and empty. He didn't know if he could change the man he'd become.

When he came back into the flat he saw that Cassie had dressed herself, she had probably heard the whole conversation through the half closed door.

"I'm sorry about that." He didn't know why he felt the need to apologize.

"You know..." Cassie said. "A girl knows when the guy is looking into her eyes but doesn't really see her."

"I'm sorry." He whispered another apology, and again he didn't know why.

They both stood there silent for a few seconds. Neither of them saying anything or even looking at each other.

"I'm gonna go now." She said. "And I think that it would be best for the both of us if we don't see each other again."

And with that she walked out, leaving George completely alone... again. At that moment it hit him that this is how he might have to spend the rest of his life. Alone and miserable.

* * *

Authors Note; I'm not going to ask you to review because according to my statistics, barely one percent of those who read this do and thirty-three percent only put up as an alert... You see my logic? And soon perhaps you will see my lack of interest...


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